Oilfield Terms Starting with "C"

Conductor casing is the first, largest and shortest string of pipe in a well, set through loose surface ground to stop it caving, to give drilling returns a path to surface, and to carry early wellhead loads.

A choke manifold is a critical assembly of valves, chokes, and piping used in oil and gas well operations to control the flow of fluids…

A core sample is a cylindrical section of rock or sediment extracted from the subsurface during drilling operations. It provides a direct, physical record of…

Cap rock (also known as seal or top seal) is a low-permeability, often ductile rock unit that overlies a porous reservoir rock and prevents upward…

A compressor station is an integral part of natural gas transportation and processing infrastructure, designed to maintain the pressure and flow of natural gas through…

A Cathodic Protection System (CP system) is an electrochemical technique used to prevent or control corrosion on the metallic surfaces of equipment and infrastructure in…

The Capillary Number (often denoted as Nc or Ca) is a dimensionless quantity used in reservoir engineering to describe the relative importance of viscous forces…

Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) refers to the funds a company uses to acquire, upgrade, or maintain physical assets such as property, industrial plants, technology, or equipment.…

Cash flow in the oil and gas industry refers to the net amount of cash and cash equivalents moving into and out of a petroleum…

Casing is large-diameter steel pipe run into a drilled wellbore and cemented in place to line the hole permanently. It provides the structural backbone of…

Cementing is the process of pumping a slurry of Portland cement and water (and often chemical additives) into the annular space between the steel casing…

A Central Processing Facility (CPF) is a large-scale surface installation that serves as the primary hub for collecting, separating, treating, and stabilizing raw wellstream fluids…